In Pictures: More progress on Black Country line

Posted on Thursday 3 April 2025 by Gareth Prior

With spring now upon us and longer days, progress is truly being made on the construction of the West Midlands Metro extension to Dudley. Now known as the Black Country line, it is due to open as far as Flood Street in Dudley by the end of 2025, but there does still remain plenty of work to be completed before we can be confident that will happen. In this update we see more overhead masts going in and progress on the construction of various tramstops. Andy Walters with the images.

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Prime Minister promises funding for transport in north

Posted on Thursday 3 April 2025 by Gareth Prior

During a visit to a factory in the north of England, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has promised that funding for improving transport links across the region will be available from his government. Headline projects which they will be supporting will be including the West Yorkshire Mass Transit scheme which its hoped will see trams return to Leeds in a network which will initially go to Bradford.

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In Pictures: Trams running at Beamish again!

Posted on Wednesday 2 April 2025 by Gareth Prior

After what may have felt like a long (almost) three months the good news to report from Beamish is that trams are running around the museum once again! Operations resumed from Wednesday 2nd April 2025 with the track relay on the edge of the 1900s town having been completed and fully tested.

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West Midlands Metro tram fleet continues to change

Posted on Wednesday 2 April 2025 by Gareth Prior

Trams come and trams go – and that’s no more certain than on the West Midlands Metro where we regularly see trams sent away for storage or repair, whilst others are readied for a return to service. The last full week of March was another one of change for the fleet with a swap of trams at Dudley whilst a long-term absentee was seen out on test again.

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Restoration of Whitley Bay Metro station canopy completed

Posted on Wednesday 2 April 2025 by Gareth Prior

A two year project to restore the Grade II listed canopy at Whitley Bay Tyne and Wear Metro station has been completed. Funded through the Metro Asset Renewal Programme, an event took place on 20th March to officially celebrate the completion of the major project at a station which sees 1.2 million journeys a year.

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Another train into service as more go for scrap on the Tyne and Wear Metro

Posted on Tuesday 1 April 2025 by Gareth Prior

It has been another busy week of fleet changes for the Tyne and Wear Metro as once again we have seen one of the new Stadler built units enter service as more of the original Metrocars have left the network for the last time for scrapping.

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In Pictures: Update from Beamish

Posted on Tuesday 1 April 2025 by Gareth Prior

As we’ve reported regularly on these pages, there have been no trams running at Beamish since early January to allow for major trackwork to take place. The bulk of the work has been undertaken by external contractors on the curve leading to and from the 1900s town (at the east end by the 1950s town) and the pleasing news to report now is that this is starting to come towards the end. In this article we also take a look at some of the trams stabled around the depot and depot yard. Trevor Hall provides the photos.

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Autonomous Trackless Trams to be tested at Teesside Airport

Posted on Tuesday 1 April 2025 by Gareth Prior

Plans for the introduction of autonomous trackless trams in the Tees Valley region of England are progressing with a pilot set to take place at Teesside Airport later this year. Tees Valley Combined Authority had previously agreed an autonomous public transport project as part of their £1 billion transport plan in January 2024 and this is hoped to be the first step in achieving this ambition.

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In Pictures: Coventry Very Light Rail vehicle under test

Posted on Monday 31 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

We recently brought the news that construction work is now underway on track in Coventry City Centre for a demonstration line for the Very Light Rail project. Aimed to start running this summer, having the track is one thing but what is going to be operating on it we hear you ask? This article seeks to show that as the demonstrator vehicle has recently been testing at Dudley’s Very Light Rail Innovation Centre.

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New café at Crich Tramway Village to be officially opened

Posted on Monday 31 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

If you happened to visit the Crich Tramway Village – home of the National Tramway Museum – last year you probably can’t have helped but notice the construction work going on to replace the former Tea Rooms with an all new café. The work has now been completed and on Saturday 5th April Mayor of the East Midlands, Claire Ward, will be visiting to officially open the facility.

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Old(er) and New – West Midlands Metro: Priestfield

Posted on Monday 31 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

We continue with “Old(er) and New” with another edition from the West Midlands Metro with one of the original fleet and one of its replacements at the same place.

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Trams &: West Midlands Metro 28 & bus

Posted on Sunday 30 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

Another edition of “Trams &” as we go to Birmingham for a photo of a tram on the West Midlands Metro network and a bus operated by National Express West Midlands.

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Man charged after noxious substance released on Metrolink

Posted on Sunday 30 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

A 31 year old man from Manchester has appeared in court charged with four counts of administering noxious substances with intent and three counts of causing a public nuisance following incidents on board trams in Manchester.

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Metro teams up with schools to bring Bulls in the City

Posted on Sunday 30 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

With the West Midlands Metro being a sponsor of the forthcoming Bulls in the City Art Trail, they have launched an exciting project where they are calling on local primary schools to help to design a bull! The trail – similar to other trails seen across the country, including Blackpool last yar who ended up with Elmer Tram! – will see 40 vibrant, larger than life bull sculptures take over the city, all in the name of charity with funds going to the Birmingham Hospice.

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What’s New on British Trams Online? 30th March 2025

Posted on Sunday 30 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

This week we have the first of a two part selection of photos from Manchester Metrolink:

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In Pictures: More adverts arrive in Manchester

Posted on Saturday 29 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

‘Tis the season for new adverts it would appear! After a quite few months of very few new adverts, Manchester Metrolink have really gone for it with new vinyl wraps. After recent ads on 3091 for Prosecco and 3031 for Soccer Aid, the past few days have seen a further three trams receive wraps – 3081, 3097 and 3119.

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Around the World in Trams: Nice 021

Posted on Saturday 29 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

We have one final photo from Nice in “Around the World in Trams”.

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New enhanced Blackpool Tramway timetable to launch 6th April

Posted on Saturday 29 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

A new timetable will be introduced onto the Blackpool Tramway from Sunday 6th April in what is being described as the launch of a new era for the trams. Whilst the new timetable will mean a lower frequency of trams running from Starr Gate to Fleetwood, the overall frequency on the tramway will increase to departures every 10 minutes from each end during the day.

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Can you help locate a former Portsmouth horse tram?

Posted on Saturday 29 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

We have been contacted by an individual who is trying to research some of more obscure aspects of railway history on the Isle of Wight – and this includes the mystery of a former horse drawn tramcar from Portsmouth. Can anyone help shed any light on this?

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In Pictures: Edinburgh Trams 261 receives new advert

Posted on Friday 28 March 2025 by Gareth Prior

The latest advert on the Edinburgh Trams network has recently been applied to 261 with the tram entering service with new vinyls for National Galleries Scotland. This is the eleventh different ad that 261 has carried, although several of these have been revised ads for the same sponsor.

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